This week, I had to cover first period four days in a row for missing teachers. New York City has tool called sub-central which assigns substitute teachers to absent classrooms, however sometimes subs don’t show up and sometimes, teachers don’t bother to call in.

Besides the annoyance of having to give up a prep period, these coverages teach the students little more than it’s okay to take a day off school. Even when teachers leave assignments to work on, students are typically reluctant to do complete it, because, “come on, Mister, it was a substitute.”